People visiting
Australia and NZ are presented with the opportunity to take advantage of
the the availability of rental campervan there. Indeed it is a great to
see the country there while having your own mobile accommodation.
However for most Malaysia or Singaporeans who have never had any driving
experience with vehicle like campervan, there are certain risks. If
your are planning for self drive holiday with a campervan, it is
important to know how to do it properly with the lowest possible risk.
Some people asked me, "how is it like to drive a campervan ?".
The short answer is, "it is just like driving a family car, just bigger and heavier".
As for the long answer, it can broken down in the following points:
- A campervan is heavier. As you can
imagine, a campervan is practically a small house on wheels. Before you
even load it with your luggage and passengers, it is already weighed
down with the body structure designed to provide all the amenities for
living. The water tank, sanitary system, fridge, site aircon, cooking
equipment and generator adds a lot of mass to the chassis. As such, the
braking distance will be longer, the steering response will be more
sluggish. Basically, your can't accelerate in a hurry, your can't stop
in a hurry and you can't turn in a hurry. Many first time campervan
drivers come to grief because they found themselves caught out by the
unfamiliar mass and weight of their rental vehicle. Mentally, you will
have to plan ahead for all the emergency maneuvers, anticipating bad
drivings and mistakes from other road users is a must as well.
- Take some time to understand the weight distribution of the
campervan. Take note of where the water tanks is located. Water is
heavy, a full tank or an empty tank may affect the handling of the
vehicle. If possible, test drive it with a full water tank and again
with an empty tank. If the camper is equipped with waste water tanks,
transfer the water from clean water tank to waste tank to get yourself
familiar with the effect of the weight shift.
- Effect of cross wind. Campervans are usually taller and longer
compared to family cars and they are more susceptible to the effect of
cross wind. You may find yourself having to steer to counter the effect
of cross wind even when you are on a straight road. When a heavy vehicle
like a bus or lorry is overtaking from behind, your will feel the
advanced air wave from them pushing your camper to the side even before
passing you. Stay vigilant and stay alert, leave the sight seeing to
your passengers, you must be totally switched on at all time.
- Be aware of the height of the vehicle at all time! Places where you
can get into with a family car may not apply to a campervan! Always ask
yourself, "is there enough height clearance for me?"
- We like to pick the best spot to park the campervan at the campsite.
The ground surface may be soft or slippery, campervans are heavy and
their tyres are designed for load carrying, not traction on soft ground.
I have seen first time campervan drivers getting themselves stuck in
sand or soft ground which would otherwise give no trouble to a 4WD of
even a family car. Check the surface before driving on it, if you are
uncertain about it, choose other spot.
- Check the condition of the tyres, ensure that they are correctly
inflated. Rental campervans in Australia and NZ are usually in excellent
condition, but it won't hurt if you pay some extra attention.
That is probably all that you need to observe for a safe campervan trip!
Campervan
is uncommon in Malaysia, importing one can also be prohibitively
expensive and it is usually restricted to corporate sector for special
purposes or the very rich who has taste for this sort of life style. For
the rest of us, conversion from a standard van is probably the most
realistic option, the trick is doing it on a budget and without having
to get JPJ approval.
I found a few example in a van enthusiasts web site where the members
did just that. Using common house furniture and very little
carpentry/metal works, they managed to create very impressive results
with a down to earth budget.
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| Using a camping bed and some small shelves, this van owner transform his standard van into a homely camper |
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| Another example of minimal carpentry works with impressive result |
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| Another view of the same van above |
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| Using a standard
Ikea sofa bed, and shelves this van provide a comfortable seating for
day configuration and a full size double bed for night! |
Below is a more elaborate conversion example, it is still a simple
conversion with no structural or seating changes. The end result is a
very versatile camper where all the camping components can be removed to
free up space for daily use. When it is time of road trip, the washing
sink and stove cabinet be easily installed. What impressed me is the use
of platform system to create a flat sleeping surface.
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| The washing sink and stove cabinet and folded sleeping platforms. |
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| With the seats folded flat, the platform can deployed to create a flat and comfortable sleeping surface |
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| The sleeping platform fully deployed |
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| The stove cabinet
is a self contained unit, with a portable stove, clean water tank and
waste water tank to complete the closed circuit plumbing |
The camper conversion example below adopts a modules concept. The stove,
the washing sink, other storage compartments are made of identical size
modular boxes. This may not be a fully fledged camper but it will
useful for day trips and picnic outing.
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| The collapsible water is usually stored in one of the modular box, so is the sink |
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| Like the sink,
the stove is a simple camping stove with aluminium heat shield propped
up for use. When on the move, they are stored in their modular box. |
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| Storage for other stuff |
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| The bed don't
look like it can support an adult, probably for small children only. I
believe this concept is borrowed from VW Westfalia's child bunk design,
which also make use of the space at the driver's cab |
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| A small television for entertainment, but I think a sun shade DVD player is probably a better alternative |
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| When on the move, everything is neatly stowed away |
